adminChristopher Farai Charamba The Reader
The beauty of books is that they force one’s imagination to be active. Fiction writing makes the reader imagine the worlds that the words describe. The better the writing, the easier it is for one to conjure the image crafted by the language on the page. Some books describe scenes that are familiar, set in the present and on an earth that the reader knows and understands. This makes the task of picturing the world in the mind’s eye a simpler task as one already knows what the space and place look like.
Other writers create completely new worlds. The language tends to be very descriptive to aid the reader to associate that which they already know with the new spaces and items that have been crafted.
Fantasy and sci-fiction are two genres that follow this model of building new worlds from scratch triggering the imagination of the reader. It is perhaps why the fantasy writer George R. R. Martin of the Game of Thrones fame wrote, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”
Afrofuturism is one such genre that stimulates the brain to picture that which is not familiar. It combines elements of African culture, philosophy, science, science fiction, fantasy and magic to tell the story the writer wishes to convey.
Nnedi Okorafor is one of the rising stars in the genre, penning a variety of novels, novellas and short stories with the various elements of afrofuturism. Her books fall into the young adult fiction category, but are perfect for anyone looking to read something light, but artistic.
In her novella titled ‘Binti’, Okorafor tells thestory of a 16-year-old girl, Binti Ekeopara Zuzu Dambu Kaipka of Namib, who leaves her home and the planet earth to attend Oomza University on a distant planet.
Binti is from the Himba tribe and is the first in her family to leave her city, let alone her planet, and the first to attend university, all against the wishes of her family. They want her to stay and take over her father’s business as she is a harmoniser like him. But Binti has ambitions that go beyond those of her locality and so she runs away.
As the only Himba, Binti experiences life as an outsider and endures the stares and snide remarks by the Khoush, who she says treat the Himba as slaves. Her voyage to Oomza Uni turns unexpected when the vessel she is travelling on is attacked by the Meduse and she is the only surviving passenger. The Meduse hijack the shuttle and use it to get to travel to the university where they wish to recover a precious item belonging to their chief.
Binti is forced to use her abilities as a harmoniser to survive, but also to try and bring peace between the Meduse and the Khoush. This task is not without great personal risk to the protagonist.
The novella is the first within a series that focuses on the lead character Binti. It is the start of the young heroine’s journey where she undergoes various transformations on this road of self discovery.
Okorafor uses the OvaHimba of Namibia as inspiration for her character Binti. She keep elements of their culture such as the otjize, a red clay paste they use on their body and hair, but as this is set in the future, there are other changes like the technologies and the abilities of the people.
The genre itself challenges the manner in which African stories have been told and gives a different dimension to elements of African culture and heritage. A criticism of this book is that it is skint on the detail.
Okorafor does not go in depth describing some of the alien aspects of her novel forcing the reader to conjure up what they think might be happening therefore making it a bit difficult to follow some of the parts.
Some of the scenes are also quite short and could have been developed more for one to engage better with the characters. The novella also had a bit of repetition which made the read a tad tiring.
Overall, however, for a young adult book, Okorafor’s Binti is a good way to be introduced to Afrofuturism and will test the creativity of the mind’s eye in creating imagined places.
Online Reporter